Qualitative research is one of the main types of the scientific investigation. The qualitative research seeks to explore the research 's issue from the perspectives of the involved population. Qualitative research is effective for gaining culturally specific information about particular social contexts and identifying intangible social factors. The most popular methodologies of this research are consensual qualitative research, grounded theory, phenomenology and heuristic inquiry. Since all these methods have certain differences, their comparison and contrast will be helpful for improving proficiency in qualitative research.
Among all the available approaches to qualitative research the grounded theory is one of the most unique methodologies,
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This methodology starts with the experience or condition, effects and perceptions of which are investigated through the subjective narration of participants about the shared incident or condition (Denzin, 2000). Moreover, phenomenological inquiry provides the researcher with the ability to examine the different perspectives of lengthy and cumulative experience of participants. The phenomenology approach is especially useful in the case when a phenomenon of interest is poorly defined or conceptualized. Since the 19th century there were developed two types of phenomenology that include hermeneutic and transcendental or so-called philosophical (Patton, 2001). While the major steps of phenomenological research include identification of the phenomenon, shared experience 's identification, asking the definitive questions and bracketing and interpretation of the researcher 's bias and expectations (Patton, 2001). The collection of the data is performed with the help of interviews, making diaries concerning the experiences of phenomenon, drawing descriptions, direct observation and use of the audio or videotapes (Creswell, 2007). The outcome of the research is dependent on the careful selection of its participants and their number. Finally, the data analysis includes its …show more content…
CQR incorporates the elements from phenomenological approach, grounded theory as well as comprehensive process analysis. The consensual qualitative research has a number of essential components. Firstly, it includes the implication of the open-ended questions in the semi-structured techniques of data collection, which allow the consistent data 's collection across the individuals as well as in-depth examination of their experiences (Hill, 2012). Secondly, it involves several judges throughout the process of analysis of data, in order to foster numerous perspectives. Third is the consensus for arrival at judgments concerning the data 's meaning that sets aside the researchers ' biases (Hill, 2012). Fourthly, it requires at least one auditor for checking the judges primary team 's work and minimization of the effects of group thinking in the primary team. The methods of the data collection in consensual qualitative research are naturalistic and highly interactive, and include interviews and sampling (Given, 2008). However, the researchers may also compare the qualitative findings with quantitative findings for triangulation of the results. While the data analysis involves three main steps that include domains, used for segmentation of the
Glaser, Barney G & Strauss, Anselm L. (1967), The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company
The aim of the research is outlined as an attempt to understand the phenomenology of
The author could have employed other methods of qualitative research such as, narrative analysis, grounded theory, discourse analysis, data display and analysis, content analysis and quantifying qualitative data and computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAPDAS) (Saunders et al., 2016). Nevertheless, these approaches seem cumbersome sometimes and take a long time to complete (Willig, 1999; Braun and Clarke, 2006 and Smith and Bekker,
Mack, N., Woodsong, C., MacQueen, K., Guest, G., & Namey, E. (2005). Qualitative research methods: A data collector’s field guide. Retrieved from http://www.fhi.org
There are two types of research that can be conducted in research studies, these are qualitative and quantitative (Newman, 2011). Qualitative research is a process that uses detailed oriented methodology that tries to achieve a profound knowledge or understanding of specific incident and circumstance, wh...
Qualitative and quantitative methods allow researchers to investigate, explore and inquire the nature of the phenomenon being studied. It is important that the researcher develops a clear understanding of the problem and design a plan to investigate it (Cresswell, 1998, para. 1). There are a variety of research methods; nevertheless, it is important to consider which research method is appropriate for the study. Qualitative research focuses on human experiences while quantitative research relies on numbers, measurements, and testing. Nevertheless, qualitative and quantitative methods use similar approaches to conduct research and collect data. For example, observations and interviews are approaches used in both research designs; however, the approaches are used and viewed otherwise. This will be discussed later in the paper.
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
To complete the above fieldwork exercise, the method of qualitative research utilised was Ethnography. Ethnography is a method in which the ethnographer or researcher becomes either an overt or a covert participant in the lives of people (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2105). It involves collecting any data that is available to explore the focus of the research (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). One could suggest Ethnography is a method to study society and culture (Berg and Lune, 2017).
The unstructured interview approach, is an excellent way of creating multiple realities by giving the control of the interview over to the participants being interviewed and inviting them to tell their stories peaked by only an open-ended question. This method requires an environment in which the participants readily open up (Hill, 2001). To the credit of the current study, the interviewees did provide detailed accounts when interviewed. Additionally, as the stories are elicited by the participants own volition, they can cover a broad range of topics allows for unplanned comments and topics to come up that may have otherwise been left untouched in a more structured methodology (Kvale, 1983). However, because the responses are so gloriously open ended they are difficult to compare across different cases, and large amounts of irrelevant data must be sifted through in a time consuming manner. The benefit of qualitative phenomenological research is that while most scientific methods focus on what can be physically observed and quantitatively measured, this leaves a gapping hole in our ability to evaluate the human condition as most of what we do is determined by unseen forces in our psyches (Kvale, 1983). Therefore, open-ended phenomenology allows researchers to break the restrictive mold and attempt to discover insights into lived experience that would normally remain invisible to more traditional scientific study (Dale,
The research is guided by a theoretical framework called the Grounded Theory Approach. The Grounded Theory Approach (GT), first described by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, is an inductively formatted, general method of research that is aimed towards theory development through the data collection process and constant comparative analysis of that data. Cohen and Crabtree, 2006). The concept relies contingently upon the data the study presents and is characterized by the proposed theory being perfectly depicted by the data accumulated. Cohen and Crabtree, 2006).
... data (Myers, 2013). To illustrate the application of grounded theory to the tourism and hospitality industry in this article, the two dimensional framework proposed Urquhart, Lehman and Myers (2010) is depicted in Figure 4. Connell and Lowe (1997) demonstrate interpretation on the degree of conceptualization on the x-axis and substantive focus of the theory scope on the y-axis (Myers, 2013). The article notes that data collection interview and fieldwork produced 40,000 words of data and sufficient evidence (Connell and Lowe, 1997), but the article does not show any of the data (Pratt, 2009). As a result, it is not clear how the researcher connects the data to the practical application of the approach in international tourism and hospitality industry. The article does explain the motive and need (Pratt, 2009) for inductive qualitative research using grounded theory.
Chapter four and five in Creswell (2013) helped me realize how important it is to focus on one type of qualitative research. This leads to writing a coherent paper in the approach chosen. It was also interesting to learn that because subjective and objective experiences, phenomenology lies somewhere in between both qualitative and quantitative research.
It is important that researchers are knowledgeable of the qualitative research methodologies in order to select the most appropriate to investigate their problem of interest, and thereby selecting the most appropriate data collection methods that will aptly produce the richest data for analysis.
Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L. (1967), The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Chicago: Aldine.
Qualitative and quantitative researcher’s exhibited conflicting ways of approaching a research. Some researchers prefer qualitative over quantitative and vice-versa. Also, it is common for qualitative and quantitative to be used together in a research. But, both methods when carried out correctly provide good research. Plus, both methods have their own unique differences and characteristics. In this paper I will define three of these characteristics in a quantitative and qualitative research design and discuss and compare their differences. (Smith & Davis, 2010)